Poisoning of Russian agent raises fears of UK vendetta

Police were last night investigating the mysterious poisoning of a former member of the Russian secret service in a London restaurant.

Defector Alexander Litvinenko is said to be fighting for his life under armed guard in hospital in the culmination of a bizarre case bearing more resemblance to the plot of a James Bond movie than to everyday life in the capital.

Litvinenko was taken ill two weeks ago after meeting a contact in a Piccadilly sushi restaurant to discuss information on the murder of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a friend. Like Litvinenko, she had been critical of president Vladimir Putin and had filed numerous reports on army corruption in Chechnya before being shot dead outside her apartment.

The British capital has recently become a fashionable haunt of Russian emigres, many of them extremely wealthy. However, alongside the influx of oligarchs have come several leading exiles regarded with suspicion in Moscow, triggering concerns that the violent vendettas that have plagued their homeland could be pursued on British streets.

Friends said he had 'no doubt that he was poisoned at the instigation of the Russian government'. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Litvinenko said he believed he had been attacked to avenge his defection, adding: 'They probably thought I would be dead from heart failure by the third day.'

There is no suggestion that the restaurant, the respected venue Itsu, was involved and friends said his guest may have been a genuine contact whose meeting with him was exploited by unknown opponents.

The 39-year-old former colonel in the Federal Security Bureau, formerly better known as the KGB, was taken ill at the beginning of November. He was initially treated in Barnet hospital, north London, before being moved and reports last night suggested tests had confirmed the presence of the poison thallium, a colourless and odourless liquid often used to kill rats. He is said to have ingested a potentially fatal dose; his condition is said to be 'serious but stable'.

Litvinenko, who claims to have survived a number of attempts on his life, first made headlines in Russia in 1998 when he blew the whistle on an order he says he received from FSB superiors to assassinate the tycoon Boris Berezovsky. He has repeatedly claimed to know some of the darkest secrets of his country's recent past.